The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards’ Best-in-Grade Award, generously sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies, is given to two writers and two artists as the most outstanding works in their grade levels. All students who submit to the Scholastic Awards are eligible for this special recognition. Each Best-in-Grade recipient receives a $500 cash prize, and the educators of these gifted students receive a $250 award. This year’s recipients represent the best and the brightest writers and artists in grades 7-12.

The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers’ partnership with Grammy Award-winning artist Miri Ben-Ari and her organization The Gedenk Movement continues to flourish. For the 2015 Scholastic Awards, we wanted middle- and high-school students to explore their roles in creating a more tolerant society. The students were asked to create original works of art and writing that reflect upon the lessons learned from the Holocaust and other genocides, with the intent to raise awareness of the importance of increasing tolerance to safeguard a peaceful society. This year, we received more than 5,000 submissions that were self-identified for consideration for a Gedenk Award! Six talented young artists and writers were honored with the 2015 Gedenk Award for Tolerance, along with a $1,000 cash scholarship from Gedenk! The Alliance, Miri Ben-Ari, and Gedenk would like to congratulate the winners. They are:

The 2014 National Awards announcements were met with great joy and anticipation! Out of 255,000 submissions, just over 1,800 were awarded National Medals. We thought we were excited making the announcement, but just check out what the medalists, their educators, schools, friends and parents had to say! Even our national jurors joined in on the celebration. Read More